Bishops at the synod on the family last week grappled with the issue of access to the sacraments for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. In 93 interventions at the synod on Wednesday and Thursday, widely different views were expressed. A key issue is whether there could be any possibility for divorced and remarried people to Read more
Cardinal George Pell has said that the first task of bishops is not to be theologians but to teach, explain, and defend the Church’s faith and morals. The Australian cardinal delivered his intervention at the synod on the family in Rome last week, and an extended form of it was posted to the Catholic Herald’s website. Read more
Pope Francis met with victims of sexual abuse in Philadelphia on Sunday and told them words could not express his sorrow. The pope met with five adults who had suffered abuse as children. The victims had been abused by the clergy or by members of their families or their teachers. Francis heard their stories and spoke Read more
Three bishops from China have travelled to the United States seeking reconciliation with the universal Church. The visits of Bishops Joseph Ma Yinglin, John Baptist Yang Xiaoting and Vincent Zhan Silu coincided with visits by Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping to the US. The three prelates belong to the Chinese-government sanctioned bishops’ conference Read more
Preaching before more than one million people in Philadelphia, Pope Francis argued strongly against a narrow approach to faith. At a Mass at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on September 27, the Pope expanded on readings of the day in which Jesus and Moses chided their followers for narrowness. “To raise doubts about the working of Read more
The papal nuncio to Ireland has said he is unable to confirm or deny stories about Irish priests refusing invitations to become bishops. In a lengthy interview in the Irish Times, Archbishop Charles Brown said this was because “when the Pope asks someone to be a bishop, it’s a very personal invitation”. None of the Read more
Up to ten bishops in England and Wales would support the Church discerning if ordaining married men is a way forward, a retired bishop says. This is because those bishops are in charge of diocese where there is a significant shortage of priests, said Bishop Crispian Hollis. The former ordinary of Portsmouth diocese said he is increasingly Read more
Bishops have been urged to increase pastoral care for travellers at international airports. A seminar of aviation and airport chaplains in Rome this month noted that airports can be places of “difficult situations asking for extra care”. “We urge the ordinaries of the areas where there are international airports to increase the pastoral care of Read more
Pope Francis has changed one significant emphasis of his pontificate since last year’s extraordinary synod on the family, a Vatican watcher says. Vaticanista Sandro Magister, writing for the Italian L’Espresso magazine, said in the first two summers of his pontificate, Francis “gave space and visibility to the men and movements in favour of a reform Read more
An Australian theologian has asked Pope Francis to ditch the 10-minute “interventions” made by bishops at the upcoming synod on the family. In a wide-ranging open letter to the Pope, Fr Paul McGavin said such interventions lead to “bald and combative declarations”. Rather, Fr McGavin proposed a process oriented to “dialogue and learning”. He suggested Read more